The Met has announced themed lineups for two weeks of its Nightly Met Opera Streams,a free series of encore Live in HD presentations and classic telecasts streamed on the company’s website during the coronavirus closure. The schedule includes a Franco Zeffirelli Week and a Dmitri Hvorostovsky Week. Telecasts streamed for the first time include Zeffirelli’s productions of Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, with Tatiana Troyanos, Plácido Domingo, Teresa Stratas, and Sherill Milnes; Mozart’s Don Giovanni, starring Samuel Ramey in the title role; and Bizet’s Carmen, with Angela Gheorghiu, Waltraud Meier, and Plácido Domingo. Also new to the streaming schedule is Elijah Moshinsky’s production of Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades, with Galina Gorchakova, Elisabeth Söderström, Plácido Domingo, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky.
Week 49– Franco Zeffirelli Week
Monday, February 15 – Puccini’s La Bohème
Starring Angela Gheorghiu, Ainhoa Arteta, Ramón Vargas, Ludovic Tézier, and Oren Gradus, conducted by Nicola Luisotti. Production by Franco Zeffirelli. From April 5, 2008.
Tuesday, February 16 – Verdi’s Falstaff
Starring Mirella Freni, Barbara Bonney, Marilyn Horne, Bruno Pola, and Paul Plishka, conducted by James Levine. Production by Franco Zeffirelli. From October 10, 1992.
Wednesday, February 17 – Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticanaand Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci
Starring Tatiana Troyanos, Jean Kraft, Plácido Domingo, and Vern Shinall; Teresa Stratas, Plácido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes, and Allan Monk, conducted by James Levine. Production by Franco Zeffirelli. From April 5, 1978.
Thursday, February 18 – Puccini’s Tosca
Starring Hildegard Behrens, Plácido Domingo, and Cornell MacNeil, conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli. Production by Franco Zeffirelli. From March 27, 1985.
Friday, February 19 – Mozart’s Don Giovanni
Starring Carol Vaness, Karita Mattila, Dawn Upshaw, Jerry Hadley, Samuel Ramey, Ferrucio Furlanetto, and Kurt Moll, conducted by James Levine. Production by Franco Zeffirelli. From April 5, 1990.
Saturday, February 20 – Bizet’s Carmen
Starring Angela Gheorghiu, Waltraud Meier, Plácido Domingo, and Sergei Leiferkus, conducted by James Levine. Production by Franco Zeffirelli. From March 25, 1997.
Sunday, February 21 – Puccini’s Turandot
Starring Maria Guleghina, Marina Poplavskaya, Marcello Giordani, and Samuel Ramey, conducted by Andris Nelsons. Production by Franco Zeffirelli. From November 7, 2009.
Week 50– Dmitri Hvorostovsky Week
Monday, February 22 – Verdi’s Il Trovatore
Starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Dolora Zajick, Marcelo Álvarez, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, conducted by Marco Armiliato. Production by Sir David McVicar. From April 30, 2011.
Tuesday, February 23 – Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades
Starring Galina Gorchakova, Elisabeth Söderström, Plácido Domingo, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and Nikolai Putilin, conducted by Valery Gergiev. Production by Elijah Moshinsky. From April 15, 1999.
Wednesday, February 24 – Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin
Starring Renée Fleming, Ramón Vargas, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, conducted by Valery Gergiev. Production by Robert Carsen. From February 24, 2007.
Thursday, February 25 – Verdi’s Ernani
Starring Angela Meade, Marcello Giordani, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and Ferruccio Furlanetto, conducted by Marco Armiliato. Production by Pier Luigi Samaritani. From February 25, 2012.
Friday, February 26 – Verdi’s La Traviata
Starring Natalie Dessay, Matthew Polenzani, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, conducted by Fabio Luisi. Production by Willy Decker. From April 14, 2012.
Saturday, February 27 – Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera
Starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Kathleen Kim, Stephanie Blythe, Marcelo Álvarez, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, conducted by Fabio Luisi. Production by David Alden. From December 8, 2012.
Sunday, February 28 – Verdi’s Il Trovatore
Starring Anna Netrebko, Dolora Zajick, Yonghoon Lee, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, conducted by Marco Armiliato. Production by Sir David McVicar. From October 3, 2015.
ABOVE: Mirella Freni as Alice and Paul Plishka in the title role of Verdi’s Falstaff. Photo: Metropolitan Opera Archives